Albert f



(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. P. PRESTON. HAND TAGKING MACHINE.

Patented Sept. 10, 1895.

WITN 5555;

(No Model.) 2 sneetsTY-sheet 2.4

' A.,F. PRESTON. v HAND TACKING MACHINE.

1510.545909'. Patentedsept.1-o,1s95.

7n, ma I 771/ y Irl-E17 14( v \\\\Y ,V y J M 19 a 16 1L' iig/N144# 1- y ik l? 2)/ F55 i'f-f 17 Wimr-ES; Y lNvEN-Tmm: MMM v 7 ALBERT E. PRESTON, OE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE PRESTON LASTING COMPANY.

HAND TACKlNc-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,909, dated September 10, 1895.

Application filed August 30, 1894. Serial No. 521,677. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT F. PRESTON, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hand Tacking- Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to tacking devices employed for lasting boot and shoe uppers, and has for its object to provide a tack-driv ing mechanism or device adapted tobe held and moved about by onehand of the operatorand to be operated to-drive the tacks by the other hand, and, further, to be used to draw the edge of the upper to place and hold it while the tacks are being driven.

The invention consists in the several improvements relating to handbperated tacking-machines, which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a tacker embodying my improvements, aportion of the tack-reservoir and chute being broken away and shown in section. Fig. 2 represents a section on line 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 represents a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 1 and a plan view of the parts below said line. Fig. 4t represents a side elevation of the lower part of the tacker, showing thel operation of the pinchers or jaws. Fig. 5 represents a section on line 5 5 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 represents a section on line 6 6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 representsa longitudinal section on line 7 7 of` Fig. 3. Fig. 8 represents asection on line 8 S of Fig. 1. Figs. 9,10, and 11 represent sectional views taken on the plane of line 3 3 of Fig. 1, showing the manner in which the tacks are let off, one at a time, to the tack-delivering throat of the machine.

The same letters and numerals of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, or, represents a head or casing provided at its lower end with a tack-devlivering throat d', through which tacks are ejected, one at a -time, by a driver b, which is adapted to reciprocate in the head, and is provided at its upper end with aknob orhead h', by which it may be depressed by one hand g represents a chute, which is affixed to the head a and is inclined relatively to the head, so that when thehead is held in a vertical position the chute will be inclined at such au angle that tacks will slide downwardly by gravitation. The chute has a groove 12 extending along its entire length and formed to receive the shanks of the tacks, said groove communicating at its lower end with an inclined passage i, which communicates with the tack-delivering passage t" in the throat a. The chute is provided with a suitable let-off mechanism, which is actuated by the driver to release one tack at a time from the chute and allow the released tack to pass through the passage t' into the throat, where it is yieldingly arrested by jaws j j, controlled by springs jj', said jaws holding each tack, as shown in Fig. 2, in position to be driven by the driver.

The let-off mechanism comprises, rst, a tack-clamp 16, which is fitted to slide in an orifice in one side of the chute, and is arranged to bear against the shank of one of the tacks in the chute at a point below the head thereof, so that the tack with which the clamp 16 is in contact is pressed thereby lagainst the opposite Wall of the groove 12;

secondly, a spring 17, attached by a screw 18 to the chute and having its free end engaged with the clamp 16, Said spring normally pressing the clamp inwardly and holdingit against one ofthe tacks, and, thirdly, a gate or detent 22, which is shown in Fig. 2 as an odset proj ection on the under side of an arm or ncarrier 19, which is pivoted at 2O to the chute and is adapted to swing across the groove 12 of the chute, so that it may stand either wholly at one side of said groove, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 11, or may project across the groove,

and thus obstruct the column of tacks, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10. The arm or carrier 19 is normally held by a spring 2l in the position shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 11, so that it is normally out of the path of the tacks as they move down the chute. The driver is provided with a beveled shoulder or enlargement 25, Fig. 2, which is formed so that when the driver is depressed the enlargement will strike the arm or carrier 19 and force the same outwardly across the tack-groove 12, thus causing the detent 22 to obstruct the column of tacks. The arm or carrier 19 has an offset 19', Fig. 3, which is arranged to strike the spring 17 during the described movement of the carrier 19, and thus cause an outward movement of the clamp 16, the latter being thus caused to release the column of tacks. There is lost motion between the carrier 19 and spring 17, so that the clamp 16 is not displaced 4until the detent 22 is moved outwardly far enough to obstruct the tack-groove of the chute, the clamp being then displaced, as shown in Fig. 9, and allowing the column of tacks to move downwardly until the lowest tack bears against the detent 22, as shown in Fig. 9. When the driver rises,

the projection 25 passing away from the carrier 19 permits the latter to be moved inwardly by the spring 21, this movement permitting the clamp to move inwardly toward the column of tacks. Said clamp is arranged to bear upon the second tack in the columnthat is, the one above the tack resting against the detent 22 so that the lowest tack is held only by the detent 22. Hence when the said detent is removed from the path of the tacks the lowest tack is released and passes to the throat a', the next tack, which is now the lowest, being at the same time grasped by the clamp 16, which again arrests the column of tacks. In this way one tack is let off or released at each upward movement of the driver so that when the driver next descends a tack is ready to be ejected.

The clamp 16, adapted to yieldingly press a tack against one side of the chute, constitutes a new and useful improvement in letoff mechanism for tacking machines. Said clamp has a flat or blunt inner end, so that it is not liable to fail to properly engage and hold the adjacent tack. Herctofore in mechanism of this class a pointed separator has been employed, formed to be interposed between two tacks without clamping either; but owing to variations in the sizes of ordinary tacks a separator operates less accurately than my clamp and is liable to either fail to cut off a track from the column or to cut off too many tacks. The clamp 16, having a comparatively broad bearing-surface, is free from this liability. Moreover, the clamp, in pressing a tack against one'side of the chute, causes the beveled under side of the head of the tack to move slightly on the up per surface of the chute, and thus slightly raise the tack, so that its head, which overlapsl the head of the preceding or released tack, is not liable to detain the latter. There is a liability of the detention of the released tack by the weight of the following tack when the released tack is cut off from the column by a separator, which is interposed between the shanks of the tacks and does not grasp or clamp a tack. This liability is avoided by my improvement.

m represents a tack-reservoir affixed tothe upper or outer end of the chute g, said reservoir being preferably a cylindrical box made of thin sheet metal, it being desirable to make said box a's light as possible. The reservoir m has an outlet fm', arranged to permit the passage of tacks from the reservoir to a space between vertical walls or wings 14 14, arranged at opposite sides of the chute, a guard m2 being provided to prevent the too free passage of the tacks from said outlet, said guard being simply a partition extending across the outlet and open at its ends to receive the tacks. The jar attendent upon the forcible depression of the driver is suf1icient to agitato the tacks in the reservoir and cause them to pass with sufficient rapidity to the chute. That portion of the chute between the walls or wings 14 14 is provided with inwardly-inclined faces 13 13, Fig. 6, upon which the tacks fall between the wings 14, said faces being formed to faciltate the dropping of the tacks point downward into the groove 12, as shown in Fig. 6. Below the wings 14, which extend some distance downwardly from the' reservoir, the chute is provided with outwardly-beveled faces 15 15, Fig. 5, which form acute angles with the sides of the groove 12, the form of the chute at this point being suchV that the tacks which have been improperly positioned or delivered will readily fall off from the chute.

To facilitate the displacement or removal of improperly-positioned tacks, I provide the chute with pins 46 46, arranged upon the outwardly-beveled faces 15 and arranged to arrest any tacks that may be sliding down the chute when lying across the same or with their shanks at right angles with the groove.

o represents a receptacle which incloses the portions of the chute, including the beveled faces 13 and 15 and wings 14, said receptacle being adapted to receive the tacks that are not properly engaged with the chute and fall from the same. The receptacle o is open at its upper side, so that the tacks that accumulate therein may be discharged from time to time by inverting the machine, and thus causing the tacks to pass out through the open top of the receptacle o.

The tack-delivering throat a has a portion of its lower surface formed as a'fixed jaw p, adapted to co-operate with a movable jaw p', formed on a lever p2, which is pivoted at p3 to IOO lthe handle d2 and is provided with an opern ating-handlep4,which proj ectsu pwardly from the lever and is located beside the handle d2, so that one hand can grasp both the handles a2 and p4, the arrangement of the handle p4 being such that the pull exerted by the operator in stretching the upper also closes and holds themovable jaw, so that the harder `the operator pulls to draw the upper to place the more tightly the upper is grasped by the jaws.

The fixed jaw p extends across the throat a and includes a part of the tack-deliveringoritice in said throat, the jawp being formed to bear closely upon all parts of the jaw p, so that the upper is grasped and held by the two jaws on a line extending across the tack-delivering orifice of the throat, the upper being therefore controlled at a point close to where the tack is driven. The movable jaw p and the lever p2, on which it is formed, are provided with a slot p5, the outer end of said slot coinciding with the tack-delivering orifice of vthe throat d. Said slot receives a guard q,

which is a flange formed on the handle d2 and extending up to the rear end of the ixed jaw p, the object of said guard being to prevent the jaws from being moved too far onto the upper. In other words, the said guard limits the entrance of the upper between the jaws, so that the tacks are driven at points uniformly distant from the edge of the upper.

r represents a string which is arranged to normally hold the lever p2 and the'jaw p in the position shown in Fig. 1, the jaw p being separated from the fixed jaw p.

In operating the device above described the operator, holding the head a over the last and the parts of the boot or shoe thereon, engages the jaws p and p with the edge of the upper and pulls the upper over the edge of the last until the upper is drawn sufficiently tight. He then forces down the driver, causing a tack to enter the portion of the upper held by the jaws and to securev the same to the inner sole.

The pull exerted on the upper as above described is exerted by one hand of the operator. To supplement said pull l provide the lever p2 with a dog or short lever p5, which is affixed to a short rod or shaft p6, journaled in the lever p2, said rod or shaft being provided with an. operatin g handle or lever p7, adapted to be moved by the other hand of the operator. ln practice the dog is turned to the position shown in Fig. 4 when the upper is held by the jaws, and while the operator is pulling with'one hand on the jaws to stretch the upper the dog is turned by the handle p7 to the position shown in Fig. 1 by thedisengaged hand of the operator, who is thus enabled to supplement the pull by the action of the lever 1J? and dog p5, said lever and dog acting yas toggle-joint members when the dog is being moved to the position shown in Fig. l, the dog being engaged with the inner sole and forcing the jaws backwardly or in the direc-v tion of the pull exerted by the operator.

AIt'will be borne in mind that the last and the upper and sole are rigidly supported by a jack during the operation, and that the dog in acting as a toggle member prevents the sole from slipping backward or yielding to the pressure of the upper against its edge.

l claim*- l. In a tack-driving machine, the combination with a tack-chute and a driver, of a tackclamp normally pressed yieldingly into the chute and provided with a clamping face on its inner end adapted to press a tack against one side of the chute, and mechanism operated by the driver for displacing the clamp from its operative position when the driver is depressed and releasing it when the driver is raised.

2. In a tacking machine having a tack-delivering and driving mechanism comprising the head having a tack-delivering throat, the spring-raised driver movable in said'head, and the inclined chute affixed to the head and communicating with said throat: the cornbination with said mechanism, of the tack letoff mechanism composed of the arm or carrier pivoted to the chute and having atack detent, a spring which normally holds the detent away from the chute, a tack clamp adapted to bear on a tackin the chute, a spring whereby said clamp is normally held in the chute, an operating device` such as the shoulder 25 on the driver adapted to displace the carrier when the driver is depress-ed and thereby move the detent to its tack-arresting position over the chute, and a projection on the carrier arranged to displace the clamp after the detent 4has reached its tack-arresting position and to permit the return of the clamp toits tack-clamping position before the withdrawal of the carrier and the release of the tack arrested thereby, as set forth.

3. In a hand-racking mechanism cemprising a head having a tack-delivering throat and a tixed jaw, a driver movable in said head, means carried by the head for delivering tacks to said throat, and a handle affixed to the head; and separated therefrom by a hand receiving space, the combination with said mechanism of a lever pivoted to the handle and having at one end a movable jaw arranged to co-operate with said `fixed jaw in grasping a shoe upper and a handle affixed to the opposite end 'of the lever and projecting into the space between the fixed handle and the head so that the pull exerted by the operator in stretching the upper also closes and holds the movable jaw.

4. In a -hand-tacking mechanism comprising a head having a tack-delivering throat and a xed jaw, a driver movable in said head,

a handle affixed to the head, a lever pivoted operating hand1e projecting upwardly from In testimony whereof I have signed my the lever and arranged beside the handle of name to this specification, in the presence of Io the head: the combination with said mechantwo subscribing witnesses, this 27th day of ism of a sole-engaging dog pivoted to said le- August, A.'D. 1894.

f5 ver and provided with a handle whereby the ALBERT F. PRESTON.

dog may be moved to supplement the pull on Witnesses: the jaws, said dog and lever acting as toggle- C. F. BROWN, links or members, as set forth. A. D. HARRISON. 

